Most of my communities feel as if the world is in disarray. The agile community wants to “go back” to when Scrum ruled the world. Too many politicians want to “go back” to a supposedly simpler time. When I hear, “go back,” I am pretty sure we are in a time of cultural change. While […]
How Can You Solve Problems When the Real Problems Are Cultural Changes? (Part 1) Read More »
There are two parallel ideas going on in my world right now. First, the news is full of “us” vs. “other.” We don’t believe “them.” They don’t trust “us.” Second, tonight is the start of Yom Kippur, where we pray as a community to make our lives—and the world—a better place. (The specifics are repentance,
How Can We Manage to See the “Other” Perspective to Create a Greater Good? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s September 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Do you like uncertainty? I don’t, and I’m not alone. That’s because uncertainty feels as if it’s an unmanageable risk. We even have sayings such as, “Don’t rock the boat,” to explain why we
How Would You Act if You Optimized for Uncertainty to Gain More Resilience? Read More »
You’ve probably heard the saying, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” That’s supposed to mean that we can maintain safety and manage risk by keeping what we have now. I don’t hunt outdoors, so I have no idea if that saying is true. However, in my experience, I have not
How Can We Choose to Drop What We Have Now to Get Something Better? Read More »
I’ve had several interesting conversations with people over the past few weeks about how useful they feel at work. They feel as if their management treats them as commodities: “You do this work and we will pay you and give you health insurance.” That’s a transactional way to think about work. However, useful work requires
How Can We Know if We’re Doing Useful Work? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s August 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Leaders often struggle with their actions. How hands-off should they be? When should they walk around and listen? Can they trust people to do their jobs? Can they support the people they lead and
How Can We Tell the Difference Between Real Leadership and Leadership Theater? Read More »
This week, two things occurred that made me wonder about resilience and how that can help us be more effective. The first was a conversation with academics about the state of the 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds in college. Because of the pandemic, they spent a couple of formative years isolated at home. The academics claim
How Can We See Where More Resilience Can Help Us Be More Effective? Read More »
As a consultant, I offer (allow) many contact methods: my various email addresses, a few Slack channels, and several Discord channels. That’s not all. I also have contact forms on my websites, a phone number, and my various social media. If I had to add it up, I suspect there are over 15 ways I
How Many Contact Methods Do You Allow, Check, and Use? Read More »
I recently learned about three kinds of fun on a scale: Type 1 Fun, where the thing you do, this current experience, is fun right now. Type 2 Fun, where you thought this thing would be fun, but you get frustrated and possibly miserable as you go through it. Only in retrospect, when you see
How Can More Type 2 Fun Offer You More Resilience? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s July 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Last week, Mark and I were on vacation in Key West. While we were there, we took several wind-and-wine sailing trips. At the end of each sail, the crew passes out dark Dove chocolate
How Can You Manage Your Feelings to Start a New Chapter? Read More »